Charges filed in fatal beating at Green Line station

Anthony Q. Jackson and Sanchez Mixon didn't know each other when they met at the Green Line station in Bronzeville on the South Side.

Within minutes, Mixon lay dying on the platform and Jackson was gone. That's about the only thing both sides in the case agree on.

Prosecutors say Jackson, 45, walked up to Mixon, talked to him briefly and, unprovoked, punched him in the head and knocked him to the ground around 11:30 a.m. Saturday. Then he kicked Mixon and at one point jumped on his head with both feet, according to prosecutors.

Jackson paused four times during the beating, only to start stomping on Mixon again, according to Cook County state's attorney's spokeswoman Tandra Simonton.

Several people at the "L" station in the 300 block of East 43rd Street yelled at Jackson to stop and called 911. As Jackson fled, someone rolled Mixon over on his back and found him bleeding from his head.

Mixon, of the 3300 block of South Michigan Avenue, was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital and pronounced dead at 12:13 p.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. He was 37.

An autopsy determined the primary cause of death was blunt force injuries to his head, and a secondary cause of death was cardiac valvular disease. His death was rule a homicide.

Jackson's public defender, Marijane Placek, said it was Mixon who started the fight and Jackson was only defending himself. Jackson was minding his own business when Mixon came up and began threatening Jackson. Then Mixon began hitting him, Placek said.

Jackson is a single father of five children who is taking computer classes at DePaul University, she said. His brother is a Chicago police officer and another brother is a former federal prosecutor who is now in private practice. Jackson surrendered two days after the attack accompanied by his brother the attorney, according to Placek.

Placek noted that Mixon has an extensive criminal history and Jackson had reason to fear for his life.

Mixon's criminal history goes back to 1993 and includes more than 20 arrests and several convictions for drugs and assault, according to court records. Jackson was convicted of misdemeanor battery in 1987.

Jackson, of the 500 block of East 67th Street in the Park Manor neighborhood, is charged with first-degree murder. He was ordered held on $500,000 bail by Judge Israel Desierto, Simonton said.